Wheel of Time | Capturing Fear | Chapter 40 The Web Tightens

There are moments in a book that you wish you didn't have to read. Moments that go beyond sadness, regret, or even fear. I'm not sure what the correct word is for the moment Rand stands before Queen Morgase and the Aes Sedai Elaida looks into his eyes and gives a half-prophecy of Rand's affiliation with the dreaded end times.

He's told them the truth - that he's a shepherd from Two Rivers and his father gave him the heron-marked blade. They are ready to behead him, or at least imprison him when all he did was fall off a wall he wasn't supposed to be on. Rand is still innocent, still a boy, and this encounter becomes more than a coming-of-age experience. It is a rude awakening. Worse than being chased by Trollocs, worse than having to hide from dark friends, Rand learns here in this scene in chapter 40, that the strongest forces of the world seek his ruin.

Artist unknown, if you know who the artist is please contact me.

How could one take this all in?

It's moments like these that I can appreciate the strength of Jordan's writing. The process of developing Rand is a journey intricately planned by the author and carried out by the characters Rand meets, every one of them a critical thread in the tapestry of the wheel of time.

I don't think these moments can really be portrayed in a film. I think they are too intimate. They are for the reader to experience in the quiet of their reading den, where the words invade the silence of their minds. Where the emotions fester, stirring the heart and prodding the fingers to turn the page, or to set the book down to absorb those feelings.

I said when I first started reviewing the book and the film that the film is an elaborate book trailer at best, and I stand by those words. The film has its moments that are intriguing and though they stray plot-wise from Jordan's work, they're okay for a TV show. I like them. But they in no way tell the story the way the author intended, they only hint at it.

Let's hope this scene shows up in season 2 and that it has at least a hint of power it does in the books.